Rock the vote.

Anyone else out there love to vote? Knowing that I shared my opinion, whether or not the outcome of a vote is to my liking, always leaves me with a great sense of accomplishment like my little voice has joined others to show that I care. It doesn't have to be a serious issue to be important either- who says voting can't be fun?

If you've been to my blog before you know that handmade is important to me so I am super excited to plug two different voting opportunities in the handmade community this week. First of
all, my lovely team (the Eastern Washington Etsy Team) is hosting a challenge and we need your vote to decide a winner. You also have the option of leaving a comment for the chance to win a prize. Hop on over to our blog for the current challenge and details.

And, for those of you that haven't been cruising the Etsy blog "The Storque" lately, they have a great feature called Voter that allows folks to vote for their favorite item weekly in a variety of themes. I am honored to once again be included in the Voter this time for back-to-school notebooks and journals. Check it out, and rock the vote here.

The Handmade Triumph

As someone who has taken the handmade pledge, I make a good-faith attempt to gift handmade whenever possible. Although this is has been my habit for many years now, I still find myself holding my breath every time I hand over that little handmade treasure. Many people don't realize that handmade gifts are the highest of compliments because of the hard work and the massive amount of love that goes into each gift. For me, it is like giving the recipient a little piece of my heart and I anxiously wait to see if they will treasure it or trash it.

Most people who have children know that you can usually rely on them for an honest reaction. While adults will spare your feelings, a child will be brutally honest about whether or not they appreciate your efforts. So when I made the choice to craft a handmade gift for my niece that will be opened along with a mountain of other name-brand-mass-media-battery-operated gifts the anxiety was especially high. Will my week worth of creating be lost in a sea of Disney and plastic? I am happy to know that it wasn't- not by a long shot.

G, my niece, has developed a fascination with food and cooking which has grown since my parents have splurged on cable T.V. While most children will request cartoons, G squeals with delight at the sight of Food Network. She recites recipes and measurements rather than nursery rhymes and would be much more excited to meet Rachel Ray than Hannah Montana. So it seemed obvious to me to spend a solid week crafting her favorite foods out of eco-fi, a felt-like material made from recycled plastic bottles. (Greatest stuff ever, really)

I took on this project without realizing that it would provide endless entertainment for both myself, who laughed aloud while sewing a life-sized plush corndog, and my family. I would have gladly spent the time to make these had it just pleased the birthday girl, but seeing how people react to the food still has me tickled. Who knew that a felt sandwich looks real enough to accidentally pack for lunch (my husband did this before I told him it wasn't real!), or that the remedy to the Monday blues is a photo message of felt bacon and eggs? The party paused when she opened her picnic basket full of food as everyone fought to peek inside or give a felt apple slice a squeeze.

In case there was any doubt, handmade enjoyed a major triuph this week. A very happy 4 year old has been waking every morning and asking to cook with her new "sewing food" and has to be persuaded each night to put it away for bedtime. My niece loved the gift and my family has been talking about it ever since. I definitely see a sequel to this gift playing out at Christmas.

Battle of Wills

Merit Badge (for rolling with the punches) by leemeszaros
Its no secret that the women in my family are incredibly stubborn. Last night was the ultimate showdown of stubborn-ness too- the battle of wills between the crafty chick and the shop-a-holic. (No, they aren't both me.) Here's how it all happened...

Yesterday evening I was at my mom's house using her sewing machine to finish up a birthday gift for my younger sister. I end up staying late and as I am gathering my stuff to leave my older sister, the shop-a-holic, mutters "Dang. I have to go back to the store for the 3rd time today. I forgot to get something for the potluck at G's school tomorrow." Because it is the last day of preschool for my niece there is a potluck, which my sister forgot about until 8:30 pm. This is where I come in.

"Why don't you just find something here to make and bring?"
"No, I was going to bring fruit. Even though a couple other moms are bringing fruit too."
"Then bring something different, don't go back to the store again."
"We have nothing in the house I can bring, trust me. I have to go to the store."

I don't think so. A crafty person can make anything for a potluck out of what's in the cupbboards. So I take G by the hand and we go looking in the pantry for a potluck item. "Ooh! how about we make this?" G was pointing to a huge container of breadcrumbs. Tempting, but no. These were sitting next to a box of graham crackers which looked much more promising. I handed the box of graham crackers off to G and kept looking. "Cover them with frosting and call it good" shouts my Mom from the dining room (Who, by-the-way, will eat frosting on anyting and everything- even carrots.)

With the graham crackers I can make a pie crust if only I can find a filling of some kind. Score! I find a cheesecake flavored pudding and hand it off to G. Meanwhile my sister is pacing the floor saying "This is never going to work. I am just going to the store." While she is busy debating whether to grab her car keys I throw the crackers into a gallon-sized freezer bag and hand G an ice-cream scoop and tell her to smash away. "Am I just like Food Network? I'm a cooker girl!" Yes, just like food network, only without the cameras or the ingredients.

As we're melting the butter for our pie crusts my sister informs me that the party is finger foods, so I might as well stop. Since pie is not finger food she has to go to the store anyway. Will the store hurry up and close already? Problem solved- I sent G to the cupbord to find me a muffin pan instead. Mini cheesecakes are great finger food dessert. An ancient muffin pan and no cupcake liners made things interesting, but with a little tin foil and scissors we called it good.

To make pudding into a pie filling, just add less milk when mixing it up. I also added whipped cream to the filling to make it fluffy and sliced some berries for the top. Mini cheesecakes all around! These rested in the refrigerator overnight and viola! The crafty will is stronger than the urge to hit the store for the 3rd time! The secret is that my craft conscience sounds a lot like Tim Gunn "Make it work," and while I don't sew that great I think he would be proud of both my mini cheesecakes and my pillows (for my younger sister's bday which is today!)

*Bragging Alert!*

Can I just brag for a quick second... please? I just want to tell everyone how proud of my team I am! As the President of the Eastern Washington Etsy Team it makes me feel like a proud momma when the team excels and that is exactly what we are doing! We have some mighty talented folks in our bunch and Etsy is definitely taking notice.

As I said in my last post, 3 of our team members (including myself) are featured in this weeks Etsy Voter which ends on Monday. People nominate these folks (or they can nominate themselves) and Etsy Admin chooses a group of items to be voted on then featured. Studio Cherie, The Vintage Dresser, and myself are all featured for our rockin' cozies.

Today I also found that we have another 3 members featured in the Father's Day themed Weekend Deals Gift Guide. Studio Cherie (man, is she popular!), slidesideways, and myself all have some screamin' weekend deals for your handmade-lovin' dad. Team EWAET representing! (lol, ok. Maybe that one was a little much- even for me.)

We also have major treasury fever and your can find treasuries by some of our "superstar" treasury makers on both Treasury Main and Treasury West at any given time. Leanna of SeamsVictorian is really on fire with these and she is good! The ever-popular Cherie also has cornered the market on treasuries and is an expert since she is also on the Treasury Team.

All I can say is- Go Team! You make me proud!

Yard + Art= Yart Sale

Really, who can avoid a really good yard sale? Even if you don't prefer digging through someone else's "junk" for a fabulous find, you can appreciate a great deal- right? I thought so. Just like everything else, this idea has been translated into the virtual world and Etsy is buzzing with excitement over the upcoming YART sale (yard + art, get it?) hosted by ESST. June 10th-June 14th sellers all over Etsy are slashing prices, offering free shipping, and including goodies with their purchases. This is virtual yard saling at it's finest people!

I was so excited to hear this huge event from last year is occurring again this year. I've been getting ready all week long for the 2nd annual Yart sale by adding new items to my shop like crazy. I am going to have a sale section in my shop with items discounted up to 40% off. I also am slipping a surprise goodie into packages with orders over $25. If you are a seller, check out this article on how to participate. If you are a yard-saler at heart and looking to find a great deal just search the term "Yart" or check Etsy's forums for people advertising their sale.

On a side note, I found out today from my wonderful friend Cherie that my made-to-order coffee cup cozies are featured in a voter on Etsy. People are encouraged to vote for their favorite cozie here. I'm not the only one from my team in there either- Cherie is entered with her eyeglasses case and The Vintage Dresser has drinking glass cozies. Go team!

Make it a double

Its no secret that I love anything in multiples... little collections of vintage items, groupings of frames in the same color, repeating patterns. How about multiple giveaways!? Count me in! I told you about Rachel's giveaway yesterday that you can enter to win a fabulous necklace from her shop, so let me introduce you now to Lindsey.
Lindsey is an amazing designer (I checked out her killer portfolio) and she has a shop on Etsy called Lost And Fawned (which I love, BTW) that is full of lovelies that will make any soon-to-be bride or hopeless romantic swoon. I met Lindsey when I first started on Etsy a year ago and have recently started following her blog where she is hosting a great giveaway. $20 to her amazing shop is yours if you pop into her shop and leave a comment on her blog that tells her what your favorite item there is and why.
So go! Do it now... you can thank me later. ;)

Beautiful Jewelry

I went out shopping with my sister-in-law (or soon to be SIL, anyway) yesterday at the mall and we had to stop into every jewelry store so she could oogle the diamonds. I have never considered myself a jewelry expert and I tend to keep it pretty simple on a day-to-day basis. My wedding ring is petite and simple and I like it that way. My SIL on the other hand carries her own jeweler's loop with her when she shops and inspects each pieces color, clarity, size, symmetry, etc. Let's just say the girl's got an appreciation for diamonds I don't usually see with people.
This has gotten me looking at everything with that same kind of eye- and one person who makes jewelry I know I can appreciate is Rachel. (Remember, I did an interview with her a while back?) And the only thing better than a gorgeous piece of jewelry is a FREE gorgeous piece of jewelry... which is just what you can get. She's hosting a June giveaway on her blog for an amazing necklace. And although I want to win it all for myself, I'm sharing the news with you because I love you too. Good luck!